translation needed

[Alexandra Sosnowski]

Hallo, Otto!

You wrote:
I am struggling with the Russian expression "ne vse kotu maslenica".
Dal' (Tolkovyj slovar') specifies: "ne vse v izbytke zhit'". How do
you say that in English? Is there an equivalent which has the same
`wintery aura' as the Russian expression?

To answer your inquiry - My source (A Book of English and Russian Proverbs and
Saying by M. Dubrovin, Moscow, 1993) gives the following English translation:

Life is not always Shrove-tide for a cat, there will also be Lent,

and the following English equivalent:

Every day is not a Sunday (Life is not all pleasure and amusement: it contains
some discomfort).

I hope that it helps.
Alexandra Sosnowski
University of Manitoba
Canada
asosnow at cc.umanitoba.ca